Groom's Davis to defend high jump title

LEVELLAND - If the Springlake-Earth boys are to defend their 1A regional track title, the Wolverines are going to have to do with much less this weekend.

The Wolverines qualified five in individual events, plus the 1600 relay - down from last year's 11 individuals and both relays - as the Region I-1A meet opens today at South Plains College.

Springlake-Earth had success at one of the area qualifying meets two weeks ago, winning four events. Whether that translates into regional success will begin to unfold when the I-1A meet begins at 10 today with field events.

Running preliminaries will follow at 2:30 p.m. The 3200 running finals will conclude the first day beginning at 5:45 p.m.

On Saturday, the field events begin at 10 a.m. and the running finals start at 1 p.m. The top two finishers in each event advance to the UIL state meet May 14-15 in Austin.

Last year, Springlake-Earth topped second-place Rotan and third-place Munday in the team race.

In this season's area meet, the Wolverines won the 1600 relay in 3:32.96, Malachi Samaron cruised to an eight-second win in the 1600 in 5:09.08 and Samaron also took the 800 at 2:05.09. Slade Quisenberry also won the 110 hurdles with a 15.76.

Samaron, who was 14th in last fall's state cross-country meet, was third in the 1600 at last year's I-1A meet. In a regional qualifiers meet last Friday in Abernathy, Samaron was second in the 800 and third in the 1600.

Among the boys, Happy's Ben Bressler is the lone area returnee seeking a return trip to state. Bressler was runner-up a year ago in pole vault, clearing 13-6. Bressler has a best this year of 14 feet.

In the girls division, Groom's Carrie Davis and Wheeler's Brooke Verden are hoping for similar success from 1998. Davis is the defending champion in the high jump, and finished second in the 300 hurdles. Davis cleared 5-6 to win a year ago, and has 5-4 this year. In the hurdles, Davis nailed down second a year ago at 48.15, and has matched that time in the regular season this year. Davis is entered in four events.

Verden was runner-up in the 100 hurdles last year in 15.48. She has a 15.9 to her credit this year.

Nazareth freshman Danette Ramaekers is among the favorites in the 3200 run. She was fourth in the 1A state cross-country meet last fall and won the area meet with a 12:34.72. She also won the 1600 with a time of 5:54.35.